Well-travelled gelding Dubai Honour faces the challenge of outshining a pair of Australia’s top mares to secure another Queen Elizabeth Stakes victory, with trainer William Haggas reaching for a proven strategy to aid his charge.
In a repeat of his approach with Addeybb before the 2021 weight-for-age feature, Haggas has fitted blinkers to Dubai Honour seeking that vital advantage.
“The boss has talked about doing it before and I’ve always felt the horse doesn’t need them because he tries really hard,” Haggas’ travelling foreperson, Isabella Paul said.
“But it’s one of those things. He’s older, he stays, and we need him to be sharp throughout.
“It worked with Addeybb when we did it for his second Queen Elizabeth and we’re hoping it works with him.”
Dubai Honour showed plenty of fight when adopting an unusual front-running role in the Tancred Stakes (2400m) last time out, surging ahead at the top of the straight before being overtaken late by Aeliana, who alongside popular mare Autumn Glow looms as a key rival at Randwick this Saturday.
Although they pose a tough threat, the eight-year-old previously defeated Anamoe en route to winning the 2023 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) and ran a bold second 12 months back behind the flying Via Sistina.
“They’re two phenomenal fillies, but we can’t swerve these races because of what’s running,” Paul said.
“We’ve flown halfway across the world.
“It makes it exciting. We bumped into Via Sistina last year and Anamoe three years ago, so hopefully we can go out in front.”
Paul is also set to partner Caviar Heights for Haggas in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), the gelding coming off a runner-up effort in the Neville Sellwood Stakes (2000m) on Tancred day.
Even though he must lift considerably, Paul wants to see him jump sharper and take up a forward position.
“He tends to run from the front, but he broke a little bit slow and got shuffled back, which wasn’t ideal,” she said of his last start.
“I’m not sure he could have beaten the winner, but it was probably his undoing.”
Check out the Australian betting sites for the best racing odds on the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.